Figure Skater Start

Good evening! Since I got so into the Ice Skating in the Olympics I decided to do this Ice Skater I've had in my stash for at least 2 or 3 years. She had a rough start but she's going better now. Only thing is she calls for some beads and I don't do beading. I did but now I'm older I can't see the eye of the beading needle to thread it, and the other needles are too big for the beads. So I'm thinking of just using metallic thread and doing French knots. Or just do the metallic thread and not French knot it. What would you do? The piece is by Lynne Nicorletti.

I tried a couple of times today to read blogs that were posted today and it keeps saying that I am not following any blogs. I do to, I probably follow over a 100! I had that problem once before and the next day I was able to do it from the dashboard again. My blog list doesn't tell me who just updated that's why I go to the dashboard.

There isn't much happening to write about so until next time Happy Stitching.

Fourth Finish For February

This was such a fun stitch. It reminded me of my brother's dog, Autumn who looks a lot like this dog and she'd be right there if ice cream dropped ready to grab it in a hurry!

Our weather has warmed up quite a bit for now. The snow has melted some. It's nice to see the ice cubes gone for now. The next 36 hours it'll continue to melt but will not melt away completely, it is suppose to rain a lot, that will help melt a lot of snow. But then Sat. it's suppose to get cold again and back to the teens or lower. Each day the temp gets lower and lower. Then bottoms out at 10, but then right now they say 20 the day after that. I don't know....we don't trust these 8-10 day forecasts things usually change at end of the 8 days. Hopefully things will be warmer. Could we be so lucky.

Now that this piece is done I am doing an Ice Skater by Lynne Nicorletti. I so enjoy the Figure Skating in the Olympics I thought I would do this one. I must admit I was disappointed in the Men's Free Skate. I didn't think any in that last group deserved the medal to be honest. But the Ice Dancers were great!

The quilts we did for the Sandy Hook Project were finally taken to Connecticut today. The Police, Fire Dept., Hospital, and Town Hall all received their quilts. The ones for the individual families were put in care of a Social Worker who promised to make sure the families get them. I'm not happy about how it's all ending up but as long as the families get their quilts it'll be fine.

Well, until next time.....Happy Stitching!

A Third Finish

Good Afternoon. After having no finishes in January, I have 3 finishes so far in February. I loved every minute of this piece. I saw it in The Stitchery Catalog and had to get it and stitch it up. (It was one of 5 kits I ordered, I have 3 of them the other 2 are on back order.) I think I will be doing more pieces by Pam Kellogg. I'm not sure what I'll do with with. I really want to frame it and keep it for myself, but will wait until I can justify spending the money on it.

Because of the weather last week, my sister didn't come in but she will be coming in today. She'll be here until Thursday and probably leave Thursday morning.

Our weather is getting better now. After today it's suppose to start getting warmer and some of this snow will start melting. I think it'll be May before the snowbanks have completely melted though, they are so high. Have to admit the snow is beautiful but the older I get the more I dislike winter.

Well... I'll go start this Precious Moments piece for Love Quilts. Until next time Happy Stitching.

Another new start

I'm on a row doing easy projects. This one isn't as quick as the other two but I love stitching on it, and wish it was bigger to be honest.

We use to sing this song in church off and on. When I saw this pattern in The Stitchery Catalog I had to get this and the "I can do all things....(Phillipians 4:19) I think that was the verse no. It's in Phillippians 4 anyway. It was my dad's favorite verse so I had to get that only it's on back order. Three of the kits I ordered last week came, the other two will come in March.

After I finish this piece I will do a Precious Moments piece for Love Quilts and then I think either Eiffel Tower or The Great Wall of China for another Love Quilts Quilt. I'm leaning towards Eiffel Tower it's easier.

I am more than ready for Spring to come. We've had well over 100 inches of snow fall already this year and have 24 inches on the ground. (The snow banks are probably 6 or 7 feet tall and that's no exaggeration some are almost up the wires). So far they say it's 5th snowiest winter on record with Jan. and so far Feb. being second snowiest on recornd. (1977-78 winter was snowiest.) But Feb. is not even half over yet and we still had 2 more months that snow so we can move up the ladder. Maybe not quite as much as 77-78 but we may give it a good run for it.

I love the winter Olympics. Although I wasn't that impressed with the Opening Ceremony (I only watched half of it though I had to watch Hawaii Five O.) I did see some of the Figure Skating on line and look forward to seeing more tonight with sound. I don't have speakers on my computer so don't get sound. I keep saying I'm going to get speakers so I can hear what my great nieces and nephews are saying when videos of them are posted!

I just got done reading some blogs. I seldom comment but I do enjoy reading the blogs. Thank you for reading my blog. I love seeing where everyone comes from and who all reads the blog, it gives me encouragement that people enjoy my projects. I may not get a lot of comments but that's okay, like I said I seldom comment on blogs myself. I go in streaks, sometimes I'm in a mood to comment, sometimes I just enjoy reading the blog which is usually the case. I still enjoy the blog.

Well....I better get some dishes done and Saturn has just woken up from his nap and telling me I've been on computer long enough in fact he has put himself between me and the screen so I can't see what I'm typing. So guess I better go. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

And yet another quick finish

Good evening. I bought this pattern book over 30 years ago, planning to do this pattern one day. I just never found a purpose for it until an opening came up for a man with cancer who liked cars, trains, and his Bible Study so I chose to do this for him. It was a fairly easy piece as long as I concentrated and didn't let my mind wander. It really was a fun piece.

My sister is coming in to town tomorrow I think, (weather willing). She hasn't been here since before Christmas so it'll be good to see her again.

Oh I said my mom was getting a cat, well, she decided against it. There were too many family members opposed to it. One is allergic to cats, so she'd never go to mom's. Plus Tim lives with mom and does have a dog although Tim really wanted her to get the cat. We just weren't sure the dog would adjust as she is 10 years old now.

Well....not much else is happening so until next time Happy Stitching.

A Very Quick Finish

I laid down America for a while. I wanted to get 2 pages done before I did it but I had to lay it down before I started hating the piece! This was a nice break, a quick easy finish done for a little boy at Love Quilts. Theme of his quilt was Christmas and the patterns all came from same book by Ursulla Michael.
We had our annual business meeting at church yesterday. We found out they were ready to present a candidate to the church as a Pastor but he sent them an email earlier in the week to say he accepted another church. Our hearts just dropped everyone was so disappointed. Our church needs a new pastor fast, we lost so many people. But last year will go down as a bad year in history of our church. So they will decide rather to just restart the whole process or relook at the other 3 candidates that were in the final four. We'll see.

Well, I'm going to select my next project, I have 4 more quilt squares to do plus I want to do a UFO for a UFO week stitch I got invited to join. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

A whole lot more progress

Good morning everyone! I did a lot more stitching on this then I had and made a whole lot of progress. It's funny, it seems like it's going so slow yet I look at the progress from last week and wow! I made progress. I just wish there wasn't so much confetti stitching is all. But I love seeing the Statute of Liberty come to life.

Well....I fell off the wagon big time this week. I was looking through The Stitchery Catalog and found 4 pieces I really liked. Three of them were religious, one inspirational. One of them was of my dad's favorite verse which is on back order. Then I got a 5th one at a discount some nature bookmarks. I spent too much. There went my resolution to get no new patterns this year and not to use my credit card out the window. I can't wait to get the patterns. Three are on their way to me and 2 are on back order coming in March.

I can't say I'm sad to see January end. It's been an awful weather month and at least through next week this will continue. This morning there was an awful accident right near here. An intercession I've been through a million times in my life. It is sort of dangerous but there is a light where people come off the interstate onto the highway. I don't know how the accident happened I suspect someone either wasn't paying attention and ran the red light or decided to try to run it. Anyway 4 people were killed. Sad.

Tomorrow is the funeral of a long time family friend. Sally was the sister of my second mom. The family and I were so close it's sad. Only one of Sally's brothers and sisters is still alive. So many great memories of them. Sally was one of my mom's best friends and they talked often on the phone. I just hope and pray her family makes it to town safely in this weather. All of them are out of town, most are out of state.

I can't believe I did this. But yesterday I had my brother take me to Pet Smart for cat food. Well...he looked at the cats to see if one he liked was still there, and she was. We left the store and a few minutes after I got home my mom called me saying she was upset because she couldn't have that cat. Well....I talked here into it and said I'd get it for her. So Tim and I went back up to Pet Smart and Tim filled out the adoption papers for her. I just hope her and their dog get along okay. Mom has wanted a cat for a long time and dad wouldn't let her. Since dad died she's often talked about wanting a cat. Angel was a greeter at the Humane Society, and while I liked a couple of other cats better, Tim liked Angel and she is who we were going for. When Angel cuddled up to Tim I knew she was the right cat, the other two cats didn't cuddle up to him, plus they had claws and we didn't want a cat with claws for mom. Angel was declawed. She is shorthaired and all white. Now to see if they get accepted to have her. I'm sure they will we haven't been refused by the Humane Society yet. They are they ones that send the cats to Pet Smart. Like I said, I just hope Angel works out.

Well, I better go get my laundry from down stairs and put last load in dryer. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Progress after 100 hours of stitching

I know I just uploaded a picture 2 days ago but I wanted a picture of 100 hour mark.

Is it spring yet? I think I'm sick of winter! I know we are not alone in this horrible weather. But it doesn't make it any easier to put up with. It's supposed to get better next weekend. We'll see.

My cat wants me off the computer and is just about ready to jump on my shoulder to get me off so guess I better obey him LOL! Until next time Happy Stitching

First page done 9 more to go!

Good afternoon!
Like most of the country we are in a deep freeze and we are getting lots of snow! Winter is so pretty as long as your're looking out at it and that's what I'm doing with my cup of hot chocolate in hand. That's my kick this year, hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.
I didn't scan the pattern cover last time so I am now. You can see what it will look like when it's done. Why do they have so much confetti stitching? To annoy us? I finally broke the rules and made the thread go from place to place rather than tying it off each time. It made the back of material to lumpy! I'm anxious to get further on the Statute of Liberty so it will come alive and see more progress. Right now it looks a mess to be honest.

Well....I'm going to read some blogs. Thank you for reading mine. I love hearing from people. Until next time....Happy Stitching

A huge start by Mystic Stitch

Good afternoon! Has everyone been keeping warm these cold, snowy days. Although right now we are on a warming trend. It is suppose to be messy tomorrow, as it's suppose to rain and turn to sleet no fun. My brother was suppose to take my nephew down to Indianapolis tomorrow which is a 6 hour drive and he planned to do it all in one day. Andrew wanted to look at a school down there that had Auto Mechanics. Anyway because of the weather tomorrow and doubts the car would make it that far, plus Tim would be driving 12 hours in one day, none of us want them to go. I told my mom if dad were here, he just wouldn't let them go and that would be that. She agreed. I do understand though that Andrew has looked forward to this for a while so he is going to be very upset and mad at his dad.

Today would have been my dad's 85th birthday, so Happy 1st Birthday in Heaven, Dad, but we miss you here on earth. Mom said she was wearing dad's favorite sweater today to keep him close. We donated most of his things, but there were some things we kept. I have his chair and tv.

I saw on some blogs something about Turtle Trot. I had never heard of it until today. (I guess I don't usually go to blogs on 10th of month). Anyway it sounds interesting but how long do you have before you have to finish all 10 projects, and what is minimum size of a big project. I know for sure this piece would count as 1 of the 10 as it's 14 1/2 by 21 when finished. It's by Mystic Stitch. I promised this one (America) to my brother, Tim. Right now it's barely a start, you can see the arm of Statue of Liberty but not much more. Statute of Liberty is probably half the project. Underneath her will be Golden Gate Bridge, I think it's Monument Valley Mountain, one of the twin tower, and a football player. All of them are mini size compared to Statue of Liberty. It has a lot of confetti stitching so will take awhile.

Something else I've been interested in is the Blog Hop but haven't figured out how to join that either. I do enjoy seeing everyone's blogs, even if some make me so jealous as they know how to make their blogs interesting, I don't. Guess I have a boring life!

Saturn's latest kick is to jump on my shoulders and lay there, which I wouldn't mind if it weren't for his claws. I wish I had him when he was younger, or he would have been declawed. By time I got him, my vet refused to declaw him because he was 9 months and weighed 11 lbs. If he'd been smaller she may have done it. At least she was looking out for best interest of the cat and not the money.

Well.....until next time, Happy Stitching!

Last Finish of 2013

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2014 is a much better year for everyone than last year was. I finished this yesterday, but didn't get to scan or post until this afternoon. This will go to one of our members at ESC who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I really liked doing this flower. For being small, it wasn't an easy stitch, it was detailed, those are the type of patterns I like to do small and detailed.
Now the piece I just started today is large and detailed and will take a while to do. It is America by Mystic Stitch, and I'm doing it for my brother. Once it gets going and comes to life it will be a fun stitch I think.
Well 2013 ended with a bang. Late in the afternoon my phone rang, I went to answer it and lost my balance, fell against my computer chair and scraped my face, nose and got a bad blood nose, tried to get up fell backward and hit the back of my head against edge f computer desk really hard. So I did what any mature adult would do. Called my mom, had my brother come and get me and spent the night with them. Finally got my nose to completely quit bleeding this morning. I woke up with a swollen nose, black eye, and scraped up face, I look a sight. My head hurts a little but not bad, my neck hurts more but that is manageable. I took a couple of Excedrin tablets this morning but haven't since, I'm not in that much pain. I'm home now and looking forward to a good night sleep in my own bed with my cat. I love my brother's dog, and she wouldn't leave me alone the whole time I was there. I have her spoiled, but she's a nice dog and easy to spoil.
Today we watched the Rose Bowl Parade, I watched it on Home and Garden Network, my mom watched in on family chanal in her room. I thought it was one of the better Rose Bowl Parades I had seen in years.
Well, I'm going to go back to stitching on this Mystic Stitch Piece. Oh is there anyone who knows how to piece pieces together. Could I have them do it for me and I post it? Thanks. Until next time Happy Stitching!

One last post for 2013

Good afternoon! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We did. It was our first without dad and we felt it but mom kept saying, "This is about Christ's birth, and we will celebrate it that way." So we did. We had our family Christmas on Friday night. It was fun with all the little ones.

I had hoped to have this finished before end of year but it may be finished Jan. 1. But that's okay. It'll be the first finish of 2014.

This is September Aster a freebie by EMS. I am doing this for a special quilt we are doing at Every Stitch Counts. The quilt will have all the monthly flowers on it. It's a very detailed piece so I really like doing it. My next piece will be by Mystic Stitch. At least I will start it, it has the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge and another landmark on it, plus a football player.

I just got home from the funeral of a special lady at our church. She would have turned 92 yesterday and died suddenly Christmas Day. She was active in our church right up to the end. Christmas Eve had Christmas with her son's family. Christmas morning she talked to her son on the phone, that afternoon her son and daughter-in-law went over there and found her dead. She was God's gift to heaven or gave her a special gift by taking her to heaven on Christmas. She was a very Godly lady and practiced what she preached. At end of service they read the poem "My First Christmas in Heaven" then sang "When we all get to Heaven." That did it I was in tears thinking of my dad, as it was his first Christmas in Heaven.

I can't say I am sorry to see 2013 leave. It really was a difficult year and was a roller coaster ride really. I hope 2014 is better.

Well....I hope everyone has a Happy and safe New Year. Until next time Happy Stitching!

West Quoddy Finished

Good Afternoon. Unfortunately Red Bird is done for the year. I left the project in my sister-in-law's car yesterday. She was going to have my niece bring it to me today but because of the weather out there I didn't want her to drive anymore than she had to especially with the baby. So I won't get it until Christmas, I decided to work on something else and lay Red Bird down for the year. That second tree was driving me nuts anyway so I'll pick it up next year refreshed and probably will take no time to finish. So I got in my drawer looking for material for the floral pattern and I found this piece. I had been looking for it for about 2 or 3 months! There wasn't much left to do on it so I finished it off and after the first of year it'll get mailed off to Love Quilts. (I think it's who I promised it too.)

We will definitely have a White Christmas this year. We are getting plenty of snow. Today is more of an ice storm but more snow is coming.

I haven't said much about Saturn lately. His latest trick is to jump on my shoulders and just stay there until I get off the computer. He can be sound asleep in another room, I get to computer and he's there. Especially if he wants my attention! He's not too spoiled is he. Right now he's sleeping on his cat condo.

I finally have my Christmas shopping all done. My sister-in-law and I went the other day. Now it's arranging to get the gifts to Johnny, Katelyn and Trice.

Last Sunday I went to my niece's church with my brother and sister-in-law to see Johnny and Katelyn in their Christmas program. It was well done and they were cute. I don't think Johnny likes being on stage, he seems nervous on it. Whereas Katelyn just handled it like she was in the classroom. Afterwards we went to Melissa's house to have a birthday party for Johnny. He turned 7 a few days earlier. Remember when I posted the day he was born? Can't believe how fast time goes by.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Not my stitching piece yet, but it's coming along. But outside it keeps snowing and snowing and snowing. And it's suppose to be like this tomorrow too. We should have a white Christmas if it keeps up. I hate it when it snows early then we have no snow or little snow for Christmas. I'm also hoping winter just stays and then leaves in Jan. Another thing I hate is like last winter it never came until mid Jan. and it stayed and stayed and stayed. But on the positive note it is more like Christmas. I'll finish my Christmas shopping Monday. The fun ones, the kids. My sister told me not to get for her 5 grandchildren so guess I'm not going to, but they are so much fun. Beth is taking me shopping for her 3 and I'll get some Christmas Cards then too.

Here is my progress on Red Bird, only the male cardinal won't show up until later this weekend or early next week. I am plugging away on the tree, that is a hard one to do. I did get quite a bit done on it.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Start on Red Bird

Good Morning! It is snowing out this morning. I didn't think it was in the forecast until later in the weekend. Oh well....it is Dec. and makes it seem more like Christmas.

I started this piece last week I think. The tree was difficult but I finally got that in. The female cardinal is now underway and is going quite well. I can't wait until more of this piece is done. There is a second tree to go in and the male cardinal plus the wording and some branches so it's a long ways from being done. It's another one by Stoney Creek.

Well, not much is happening so until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished!

Good Afternoon! How was everyone's Thanksgiving. Ours was good. We went to my nieces house to celebrate it with her family. The traveling wasn't easy, glad we only went about 15 miles. It took close to an hour to get home it was so nasty out. Johnny and Katelyn were as cute as ever. Noisy but you can't ask a 3 year old or 6 year old to be still and quiet, especially when excited. My mom did pretty good yesterday for it being our first holiday without dad.

I finished this piece earlier today and I love it. I hope it makes a good addition to Savanah's quilt.

Now to start Red Bird in Stoney Creek's Home Again Christmas. It's an old book and I've done so many pieces in it it's actually ripping up. I seem to like Stoney Creek pieces. I'm sure I've done over 50 of them. Has anyone done more of them then me. I think I would win that contest.

Well now to go start it and read some blogs. Until next time....Happy stitching!

One Last Update on I Will Give You Rest

Good Morning! Hope everyone is doing okay in the storm areas and gets to their destinations safely. We are going to my niece, Melissa, for Thanksgiving. They are having us and John's dad over. Melissa and John are picking his dad and I up early in the day and my mom and Tim will join us for dinner. Mom really isn't up to being around everyone for a great length of time. She really misses dad a lot. We all do. This is our first holiday season without him. At first I just wanted to sleep through Thanksgiving but that's sort of foolish. Only we aren't having turkey I guess, John couldn't find one so he bought Cornish hens. We'll still have the dressing, etc. I have to make the green bean casserole this afternoon. I am almost done with this piece. I love doing it. I hope it's suitable for a teenage girl. At first I thought it was then I thought it's more for an older lady. Hopefully it will fit into Savanah's quilt fine. We are getting plenty of snow. I just hope we have it for Christmas. I'd love to have it like this over the Christmas season and when the kids are out of school they can enjoy sledding, skating, skiing, tobogoning, luging etc. I remember we loved skating, sledding and skiing when we were kids. Those dunes of Lake Michigan we great for that. Now you can't sled or toboggan down them but they still have a skating rink and have other places you can go sledding, skiing or taboggoning. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with your families. Until next time...Happy Stitching!

Progress and a Finish

Good Morning! Did everyone survive the storms of yesterday? For us the storm lasted about 5 minutes as far as hard rain and thunder and lightning go. Lighter rain and the winds lasted longer. It did do some damage but fortunately no tornadoes here, but we don't get tornadoes. Lake Michigan protects us. East of us may have had a tornado or two but that will be confirmed today rather it was tornado or straightline winds. I finished the Sabine Bank Lighthouse in LA. I love doing these Lighthouses even though it has been years since I did one. They are small but detailed. This is Fifth one I've done over the years.

L am making great progress on this piece. I love working on it and it seems to be moving fast, especially for a Stoney Creek piece. I've done about 50 Stoney Creek pieces, I love doing them. Wonder if anyone has done more than me. My sister was in town for the weekend. She had planned to stay for church yesterday but after hearing the weather report she thought she better head out before the storms came in, so she left Sunday morning. Good thing she did or she would have been caught. We had our annual Harvest Dinner yesterday, after church but none of us went. We didn't even make it to church yesterday. While she was here, I was able to get Christmas presents for my mom, brother, and nephew. I'm holding off on the kids as they are so much fun and waiting to hear when/if we have a family Christmas this year. It's so hard to get a time that is good for everyone. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

A Pretty Start

A

I just love this piece it is so pretty. I can't wait to have more done on it. For some reason I really like Stoney Creek pieces. I may not be a fan of the owner but she does have some good designers. I haven't seen the owner in years so she may have mellowed since I knew her 20 years ago. I think I've done about 50 Stoney Creek pieces over the years, more than any other designer that's for sure. I saw the comments on a couple of blogs about why they don't blog so much any more. I know I'm guilty of being real lax. At start of year I wanted to have 88 posts this year. Not even going to come close. I just decided my posts were boring, so I decided unless I had something I really wanted to share like cross stitch pieces I wasn't going to post. Last night we had our first Thanksgiving dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and their two daughters and families. Kevin and Beth are going to AZ for Thanksgiving and will be gone two weeks. They are going to visit Beth's dad and their son. Jeremy lives about 2 hours from his grandfather. So they'll see a couple different parts of the state. Mom had a really hard time as it's the first holiday without dad. Personally Thanksgiving Day if I had my way, I'd sleep through it because I'm not looking forward to any of the holidays this year. They say each year gets easier. Anyway Thanksgiving Day we are going to my nieces. So it'll be fun. We got to meet baby Trice for the first time last night. He will be a month old tomorrow. He was so cute, and sweet, and so tiny! Next Sunday we are having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. Rather or not I'll go or not I don't know. There again it just won't be the same without dad. Plus it's been a very rough year for our church and attendance has dropped terribly. We need to find a new Pastor soon. Our former Pastor left in May for another church. Well.....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finally a finish

I finally finished this earlier today. It was fun to do but it had to get done. It's due on Friday, so it may be out there a little late as I'll mail it tomorrow or Wed. Now I'm working on a Halloween witch by Ellen Maur-Strohl. I usually don't get into witches but this one is cute. We moved my mom and brother into their new apartment a couple of weeks ago. Mom couldn't live alone so Tim and his son moved with her to a 3-bedroom apartment that mom already lived in. I seem to have caught a nasty cold. I have had it for 4 weeks now and the cough was ridiculous. I haven't been to church in 3 weeks or gone to anything. I finally called the Dr. and went today after my mom and friends kept after me to telling me they thought I had walking pneumonia. So I went today and it's a sinus infection which is what I thought it was. I hope by Thursday I feel good enough as I'm suppose to help with apple cider and donuts for Trunk Or Treat at church. I love doing that but if I'm coughing all the time that won't be good. Well...until next time....Happy Stitching!